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Victoria Bartlett
Victoria Bartlett is a character appearing in the episode A Worm in the Bud of the ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders. The mother of farmer Simon Bartlett, Victoria was desperate for him to conceive an heir to the Bartlett farming empire, as the family had been at the top of the game in Midsomer Worthy for generations. So desperate, in fact, that she resorted to murdering his wife Susan as she was unable to have children. She also murdered James Harrington after he witnessed her dumping Susan's body in Setwale Wood, which in turn led to Victoria herself being killed by her old friend Hannah Harrington. Biography Growing up in Midsomer Worthy, Victoria was the prettiest girl in the village, and forever won the heart of farm worker Jonah Bloxham. He maintained a shrine to her in a small rustic cottage in the woods, even after she had moved on and married into the Bartlett family. Following her husband's passing, her son Simon inherited the family farming business, passed down through the Bartlett bloodline for generations. Simon grew up alongside James Harrington, son of Victoria's friend Hannah. When James went to college, Simon began dating and eventually married his ex-girlfriend Susan. However, Susan was unable to conceive children and suffered from depression. Victoria, who wanted nothing more than for Simon to conceive an heir to the farm, realized that she would never get her wish as long as he was married to Susan. When Simon began an affair with solicitor Bernadette Sullivan in 2002, Victoria saw an opportunity and decided to murder Susan to finally get rid of her for good. Using the drug Valerian, Victoria rendered Susan unconscious and drowned her in a bathtub before dragging her body into Setwale Wood. She also wrote a fake suicide note and sent it to Simon, disguised as an email from Susan herself. DCI Tom Barnaby was not convinced however, and began treating Susan's death as suspicious. James Harrington, who had witnessed Victoria's car leaving Setwale Wood after dumping Susan's body, decided to blackmail her, and threatened her by placing an arrangement of flowers in the shape of a corpse on her front lawn. When he phoned Victoria and asked her for money in return for his silence, she then realized that she would have to murder him too, and did so by drugging him with Valerian (placed in his drink) and then dumping his unconscious body in a muddy pit where he drowned. During the commission of the crime, Victoria also drugged James' dog by feeding him meat laced with Valerian. Jonah Bloxham soon figured out that Victoria was behind the murders, but not wanting his beloved to go to prison, he framed Simon instead. The faked evidence forced an unconvinced Barnaby to arrest him, prompting Victoria to visit Bloxham's cottage and try to kill him by striking him over the head with a wrench and setting the cottage on fire; he survived, however, and was taken to hospital. When Barnaby discovered the scorched remains of several photographs Bloxham had kept of Victoria as a child, he realized that Bloxham had stitched Simon up in order to protect the real killer; Victoria herself. Meanwhile, Hannah Harrington had brought her late son's dog to local vet Sam Fielding, who recognized the smell of what had knocked him out;Valerian. Hannah remembered that when they were younger, Victoria would pick Valerian flowers and use the root to drug rabbits and squirrels so that she and Bloxham could capture them. This made Hannah also realize that Victoria was the one who had murdered her son as well as Susan. Hannah then drove over to Victoria's house with a shotgun, where Victoria was burning the rest of the photos she'd taken from Bloxham's cottage. Hannah took her hostage, marching her to the car and forcing her to drive to Setwale Wood. Once at the wood, Victoria managed to escape after hitting Hannah with a tree branch. The kidnapping had been witnessed by young Julie Fielding, who informed Barnaby, allowing him to race over to Setwale Wood accompanied by Sergeant Gavin Troy. They arrived just as Hannah caught up to the fleeing Victoria and cornered her at gunpoint. Victoria finally confessed to her crimes and, seemingly giving up, Hannah lowered her rifle momentarily, allowing Victoria to say to Barnaby “I'd like to go home now, Mr. Barnaby. We're really not friends anymore.” At that point, Hannah quickly raised the barrel of the gun again and killed Victoria with a single shotgun blast to the chest. She then calmly allowed Barnaby to take her into custody. Crimes # The murder of Susan Bartlett - drugged with Valerian, drowned in a bathtub and then dumped in Setwale Wood. # The murder of James Harrington - drugged with Valerian and placed in a pit of mud, in which he asphyxiated to death. # The attempted murder of Jonah Bloxham - struck over the head with a wrench and left to die in a burning cottage. Category:Minor characters Category:Murderer Category:Murder victims